i think the whole council went to war coz they believed it was a great cause and they felt responsable of it all (coz dooku being a fallen jedi)
and probably they felt they were going to wipe out the droids, i dont think they were expecting so many droids, and if they were expecting as many as there were i believe they were arrogant about it and overconfident...a bit o fa flaw in the council, dont you think?
In EU darth maul makes his crystals from nothing. Using the force. I believe that some fallen jedi dont even bother to make new lightsabers with red blades. And blade color doesnt have to do with the crystals its something else in the light saber so all a fallen jedi would have to do is adjust his lighsaber to make the blade red, right?